Romain Virgo - Lovesick (VP Records)

Virgo summarizes the album as follows: "These are my life stories in terms of love, or having it, or losing it, or finding it again. I'm a very emotional person and I believe love is the one thing that's going to save us, not just in terms of human relationships, but in the broader sense. I personally believe that nothing forms a stronger bond than love. It cuts through race, religion, creed, everything. We need to put it in the centre of our lives.". In his lyrics Romain confronts us with all aspects of love, and the music on 'Lovesick' is almost just as varied: "We experimented with styles and genres that we haven't dared to before. The writing is on a new level too!", and that means in the track list you'll find everything from a poppy ballad like 'Cannot Close My Eyes', the Euro-trash of 'Will You Be There', or the excellent soul ballad 'Heartbeat', over classical lovers rock like 'Trouble' or 'Hold On', to the dancehall of 'Now', a version over the Skank And Wave riddim, and 'Still', for which Richie Stephens presented Virgo with the Skyscraper riddim. The album concludes with two covers: 'Stay With Me', Romain's version of Sam Smith's 2014 smash (but music quizzers might also want to check Tom Petty's 1989 hit 'I Won't Back Down'), and a real lovers rock classic in the form of Dennis Brown's 'Caress Me', produced by Clive Hunt and already included on the 2016 compilation 'We Remember Dennis Brown'. We'll leave you with our two personal favorites from the track list: the classic lovers vibes of 'Cruise' and 'Day In Day Out', a song with a great dubby outro about the obstacles you sometimes need to overcome when in love. With 'Lovesick' Romain Virgo proves he's the current champion of the Jamaican love song.